,,
,' YOUTH FORUM
INTEGRATED PERSONALITY:
Student Power'-
Its Use and Abuse
SWAMI HARSHANANDA
[Author IS a semor monk of the Ramakrishna Order
and at present the PreSident of Ramakrishna Math,
Bangalore Contents of this article are culled from hiS
book Student Power Its Use and Abuse 1
i of the office-bearers of a students'
union ng conducted in full swmg in a big college.
Soon ensues between the supporters of the
rival candidates. Unable to control it, the authorities
of the college promptly call in the police. The police
arrive on the scene and quickly go mto action
'hammering' the students mercilessly, severely injUring
quite a few of them, not excluding perhaps a couple
of the professors too, who are helplessly watch 109 the
dogfight. Enraged at thiS atrocity of the police who
had no bUSiness to interfere in their 'family quarrel',
the students now decide to 'teach them a good lesson'
and begm attacking the police party as also the college
authOrities with whatever missiles they can lay their
hands on. The college office is ransacked, the
laboratOries are destroyed and the library is set on fire.
The College Union too does not escape from
vandalism.
Meanwhile, seeing that the situation has gone
out of their control, the 'small' police force beats
a hasty retreat I n order to return with greater
reinforcements, being promptly chased by the enraged
students whose number has m the meantime, been
swelled by the 'reinforcements' from a part of the
goondas from the nearby cinema house. Unaware of
all thiS turmoil, a bus of the public transport system
tries to plough through thiS crowd of 'war heroes'. Woe
be unto it! The wrath of the crowd now turns 'justly'
against the bus and other transport vehicles and the
police meanwhile manage to escape. Buses and cars
are stoned and a couple of them are burnt also. Among
the innocent passers-by and the passengers, who
frantically try to escape from the scene, a few are
seriously injured Including an old woman and a
helpless child. Some shops are looted and the nearby
post-office is burnt. (It just does not matter If Shyam's
applications posted for jobs have been burnt m that
The Vedanta Kesari
-
bonfire and if an old
father died owing to lack
of timely help since hiS
only son could not get
the telegram of hiS
father's critical Illness, as
the telegraph office had
been reduced to 'sacred
ashes'!)
The authorities of
law and order now
quickly act and a much
bigger police force
including a company of
the CRP is brought into
• • • action. Firing 'in self-
•
J:.et us out defence' becomes mevi-
our own lma.ge. table, leaVing half a
dozen young men dead,
perhaps totally ruining the future of a few fam-ilies
which depends upon them.
Thus 'order' is restored and 'peace' returns.
There have already been echoes of thiS
disturbance 10 the State legislature where, as usual,
the opposition charges the Government With hlgh-
handedness and unprovoked attack and the Treasury
Benches charge the opposition with haVing deliberately
fomented the trouble just to tarnish the good name of
Goverment. The State exchequer and the public lost
just one crore of rupees thereby obllgmg the fmance
minister to Impose new taxes to make up the deficit!
Thus the story goes on.
And thiS certamly IS 'student power' which has
made itself keenly felt by the Government and the
people!
Not that this IS the only side of the story. To be
fair, there IS certainly the other Side, the bnghter Side,
students helping m the construction of a road or a
school bUlldmg 10 a Village, spreading literacy by
runnmg night schools for the employed adults, giVing
knowledge about better sanitation to ignorant people,
helping the police in controlling traffiC or In
mamtainlng law and order In times of emergency by
working as volunteers-these are but a few of the
several activities carried on by the students either
individually or In groups. And this certamly IS also
'student power' and that too in the true sense.
If the 'student power' is mamfestlng Itself today
In the way it does, and not 10 the way it should, the
fault is not wholly ItS. You cannot keep your finger 10
I394 I OCTOBER 2003
 35
the fire and then expect It not to be burnt! Having
forced a negative and soulless education down the
throats of these students, having been infected with
the contagion of politics In ali its departments of life,
haVing forgotten how a true teacher or a parent or a
political leader or a member of the society is to conduct
himself, haVing placed inordinate emphasIs upon
money and other material values, if the society stili
dreams of 'controlling' the 'student power', It is hugging
a fond Illusion!
So, If we are to survive we have to return to the
SPIrit of our great sCriptures and our great forefathers
who discovered great unrversalldeals. To bUild a strong
VIrile new nation on the bedrock of CIVilization and
culture, not forgetting at the same time, to borrow the
best from others If and when necessary, IS the task we
have to undertake urgently. StudYing the maladies that
all our student population and finding out SUitable
remedies so that we can train them porperly
and bring out the best In them are part and parcel of
thiS task.
STUDENTS AND PARENTS
The Indian national heritage has given a very
high place to the sacred and sweet relationship that
should eXist between the parents and the children. In
the ancient days, the children used to be taught to
look upon their parents as God. And this spirit had
been kept up for centuries.
But things are changing fast. The parents are
complaining that their children do not respect them
or obey them ... The children are lamenting the lack of
understanding on the part of their parents.
It has therefore become extremely necessary to
coolly and carefully analyze this problem and find a
solution at the earliest.
From thiS analYSIS some plain facts emerge:
(a) The parents demand respect and obedience
from their children, without commanding II. They do
not command It since they often do not practise what
they say. The young people have a very keen power
of observation and note thiS lacuna Immediately. So
they not only lose respect for their parents but also
come to the conclUSion that hypocriSY IS a matter of
course In this world!
(b) Bringing up children IS both a science and
an art. Strange as It may seem, many parents do not
know how to bring up their children and make them
useful members of the family and the society. The
children Just grow up by themselves!
The Vedanta Kesan I 395 I
(c) The fast changing SOCial conditions, eVils of
industrialization, the Impact of materialiStiC culture and
political ideologies and the gradually increasing
economic difficulties In many countries are no less
responsible for this deterioration of the once sweet
relationship between the parents and the children.
What are the remedies then?
Since the last-mentioned cause IS beyond the
capacity of the parents, they can only concentrate on
the fl rst two.
First, the parents have to assiduously cultivate
certain baSIC moral, ethical and spiritual values which
alone can give strength and stability to their character.
They should translate these virtues In their own life.
They must practise what they preach to their children.
Secondly, they must maintain a close and
intimate contact With their children, acting as their
friend, philosopher and gUide. They should try
Sincerely to understand their thoughts and feelings.
They should always act With prudence and never try
to Impose solutions. As regards the grownup children,
they should be treated II ke friends. They should appeal
to their mi nd through reason and touch their hearts
With love. That will do the trick!
How should the children respond? They should
also try to understand the feelings of their parents who
have brought them up and who are after all their best
well-Wishers. They should know that the parent-chlld
relationship IS God-made and natural. A deliberate
Violation of the Spirit of thiS relationship by either Side
will spell disaster. The chances are more that the
Violation comes from the Side of children. The children
should realize that nature Will pay them back In their
own coin when they In turn become parents! The law
of retribution does eXist In nature and IS Inexorable.
IMITATION OF AFflUENT SOCIETIES
Though affluence has brought many material
comforts, it has also wrought untold miseries for the
affluent society. Material enjoyment has an optimum
limit beyond which It proves boring and even harmful.
It IS a well-known fact of economics that when the
production In a factory exceeds the Optl mum level, It
results in a loss!
The same prinCiple holds good In the field of
material enjoyment too.
Once the basIC needs of the body are met and
even enjoyment obtained, man does not know what to
do with himself, unless he has a high Ideal before him
so that he can channelize all his energies towards ItS
OCTOBER 2003
 36

realization. This naturally results In psychosIs and STUDENTS AND RELIGION

neurosIs as In the affluent societies.
Two of the factors wh Ich have, between
themselves, almost exclusively been responsible for thiS
spurt In crimes are alchoholism and the movies. The
story goes that once Satan asked a man to steal hiS
neighbour's money, kill hiS own child and dnve away
hiS wife. The man promptly refused. Then Satan offered
him an alchohollc dnnk. AccepMg thiS apparently
Innocuous offer the poor man drank It, and then,
comltted all the three crimes without being prompted
or prodded further!
The movies are no less responsible for crimes.
Recently, two high school boys kidnapped a primary
school boy and murdered him. Reason? Just for the fun
of It! Inspirahon? From the movies of course! The movies
and the television are very powerful media of mass
commUnication. The effect of a film or a scene on the
T.V. can linger In the mind for a pretty long time. If sex
and crime are exhibited, even glorified, through these
media, day In and day out, woe be unto the society that
IS exposed to It!
Another significant fall out of thiS cinema T.V.
culture IS promiscuity, which IS eating Into the VItals of
the youth, leading to forced abortions often resulting In
phYSical death as also venereal diseases. Since excesses
Man being 'cast In the mould of God' cannot
easily deny Him. Even great scientists like Newton and
Einstein have believed In the eXistence of God as an
intelligent power regulating and guiding the destinies
of the universe.
In the words of Swami Vlvekananda, 'Religion
IS realization'. It IS a 'manifestation of the diVinity
already In man'. And whatever helps In unfolding thiS
diVinity Inherent In man IS religion. It IS not Just a dogma
or a creed or a set of observances. It IS leading the life
In such a way that we help manifest our higher nature,
truth, goodness and beauty, In every thought, word
and deed. As the Biblical saying goes, 'Man shall not
live by bread alone'. He needs something more, some
high Ideal to live for. And thiS Ideal IS proVided by
religion, any religion, when understood properly.
It IS true that much blood has been shed In the
name of religion. World history IS replete With crusades
and Jehads. But thiS IS not the fault of religion as such,
but due to a misunderstanding of the SPIrit of religion.
No religion ever says that man should shed the blood
of another or be cruel to another. And whenever man
had heeded thiS adVice, there has been a golden era
In history.

of youth will be like drafts on old age payable With

compound Interest, and diSSipation leads to disease and
degeneration, our students, teachers and parents shou Id
JOin hands In fighting thiS menace.
The drug habit IS no exception. It starts Innocently
but ends In disaster. In a period, says an authentiC source,
when 43,000 Americans died In the Vietnam War,
1,40,000 died at home from drugs! Many of the top
doctors of America are of the definite opinion that these
drugs cause permanent damage to the brain cells and
cause prolonged psychOSIS as well as hysteria. The saner
section of the American people including students
are waging a war against th Is menace. The students
should beware of these eVils and fight them tooth
and nail.
THE IDEAL OF EDUCATION
Man IS not Just the body or even a combination
of the body and the mind He IS essentially the spirit.
The aim of educaliOn should be to help manifest thiS
splnt In every thought, word and action. So It should
aim at a full and harmonious development of the body
and the Intellect, and tune It to the Spin! wlthm. In
other words, It should help build up an Integrated
personality, a perfect character.
Imparting of moral and spiritual teachings
through stories and biographies In the lower classes, a
regular study of the major rei igions of the world In the
higher classes as also group prayers and meditatlon-
thiS IS the suggested pattern. 0

TO Naturally we run into extremes. When we are healthy and young, we

think that all the wealth of the world will be ours, and when later we get kicked about by
society like footballs and get older, we sit in a corner and croak and throw cold water on
the enthusiasm of others. Few men know that with pleasure there is pain, and with pain,
pleasure; and as pain is disgusting, so is pleasure, as it is the twin brother of pain. It is
derogatory to the glory of man that he should be going after pain, and equally derogatory,
that he should be going after pleasure. Both should be turned aside by men whose reason is
balanced. Why will not men seek freedom from being played upon? -Swami Vivekananda

The Vedanta Kesan I 396 I OCTOBER 2003